Home Theater question?

[Jp3]

Hello all, when I am watching a blue ray I feel like my surround should be more, I can turn it up but I like a loud sound but not too loud, I have a RX-A2025 receiver and VS-150 and rear XLS-6 6 1/2" 2
and a Center, What would i need to push these better?
Is there a AMP i could use to add, or do i replace this receiver with something else If I really turn it up you start to hear Base, trebles, high , mids, I just think i am missing something, I know my receiver is old but do I need to replace it with a more powerful one or am I just missing things here? Thanks

 

[everettT]

Hello all, when I am watching a blue ray I feel like my surround should be more, I can turn it up but I like a loud sound but not too loud, I have a RX-A2025 receiver and VS-150 and rear XLS-6 6 1/2" 2
and a Center, What would i need to push these better?
Is there a AMP i could use to add, or do i replace this receiver with something else If I really turn it up you start to hear Base, trebles, high , mids, I just think i am missing something, I know my receiver is old but do I need to replace it with a more powerful one or am I just missing things here? Thanks

What speakers are those? Do you have a sub? Unless your speakers are clipping, new amplification won't change much, if anything at all.

 

[lovinthehd]

Cerwin Vega speakers it looks like. How did you setup the speakers with the avr particularly? Surrounds aren't supposed to be very prominent, they're just there generally to supplement the mains in terms of ambience/depth kind of thing. You can always simply raise the trim levels of your surrounds if you want them louder. How far away from each speaker is your main seat? Even if you double the power of the avr's amp, you'll only gain 3dB spl. Cerwin Vegas are reasonably sensitive speakers, too, so should get quite loud with your avr's amps.....altho not sure what an A2025 model is, thought that series was all ending in "0".

 

[Jp3]

Thanks for the reply, some say to get a 300 watt amp , but i am not sure that is the answer either. Sorry I typed the reciever model wrong, its yamaha RX-A2050 the room is 18 feet long I am about 15 feet I was thinking i needed a SUB then connect the sourrond up tho the sub an dmaybe that will produce more sound in the rear

 

[lovinthehd]

Oh I'd definitely start with a sub before a power amp. Not sure what you mean about connecting surrounds to the sub, tho. You'd connect the sub to the sub pre-out on the avr.

 

[Jp3]

Some subs have connections for speakers

 

[Trell]

Some subs have connections for speakers View attachment 61002

This one only has stereo, though, which is fine if stereo is all you want. For surround, not so much.

 

[lovinthehd]

Some subs have connections for speakers View attachment 61002

Those are called high-level inputs, so you can pass your speaker wires thru the sub to provide signal to the sub but the same signal the speakers get (from the amp, the sub doesn't power the speakers via these connectors). Usually for older 2ch systems that have no sub pre-out. I'd use the LFE input on the sub along with the sub pre-out on your avr, tho.

 

[Jp3]

So what have I really been missing with not having a SUB? Yes I use my surrond all the time I just dont hear sounds passing behind. Maybe i have something not connected right. I am a sound buff but not like some here that spends thousands for Equipment. I like my Bass from my Cerwin Vegas I am sure I am not listening as loud as most do. I never see the woffer move on these front speakers I can tell ya that.
this is what I am using, I thought of getting something else but i have no idea what to look at and what to do with this one, to bad ther wasnt a place to trade infor recycle or something
RX-A2050 - Overview - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha - United States

 

[everettT]

Low frequency enhancement gives the perception of a fuller, more satisfying sound. As Lovin' mentioned, the surrounds have limited content and most of the time, not at a high SPL level except for short instances, so you'd have to boost those channels if you want more (which personally I wouldn't).

 

[lovinthehd]

So what have I really been missing with not having a SUB? Yes I use my surrond all the time I just dont hear sounds passing behind. Maybe i have something not connected right. I am a sound buff but not like some here that spends thousands for Equipment. I like my Bass from my Cerwin Vegas I am sure I am not listening as loud as most do. I never see the woffer move on these front speakers I can tell ya that.
this is what I am using, I thought of getting something else but i have no idea what to look at and what to do with this one, to bad ther wasnt a place to trade infor recycle or something
RX-A2050 - Overview - AV Receivers - Audio & Visual - Products - Yamaha - United States

Are you using an actual surround mode or content recorded in surround? More information of how you're using the avr would help. How did you setup the speakers, did you use the YPAO/auto setup Yamaha provides?

You should get some information from your surrounds on occasion, but it will depend on the mix too. You only have a 5.0 setup it seems, so you have surrounds, not rears (rear surrounds come into play with 7ch), what terminals are your speakers hooked up to on the avr? You have sufficient equipment to hear what's there in 5.1 content at least, no need to spend thousands.

Your CVs have bass, but not on the order of a good sub. Seeing a driver move a lot isn't necessary (and somewhat unusual too). Do you have that particular sub? Does it have a model number? Thanks for the Yamaha link but I tend to find things just fine with a model number. Do you use the manual to assist? It has tons of good information...

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

So what have I really been missing with not having a SUB?

For movies? A lot.

 

[BMXTRIX]

It seems to me that you really need to step back and spend at least a bit of time reading about surround sound setups and such.

The subwoofer, if you're a movie watcher, is one of the most important speakers which you will be using. If you have mid-range speakers, a good sub is almost the most important speaker in the system as it adds presence to the viewing. A high end subwoofer, which does cost a fair bit, is the main speaker which I think is worth every penny spent. Why? Because it adds presence. When you walk onto an airplane, you FEEL the motors, you feel the presence of the motors without so much as hearing them. The deep, low rumble as they kick into motion, how they fill your entire body with their presence. That's what a good subwoofer does. It completes that feeling of presence which speakers can only deliver up to a certain point.

In your Yamaha settings, you would set all your speakers to 'small' and let the receiver handle the crossover of higher bandwidth audio to the speakers and low frequencies (LFE) to be passed to the subwoofer. You would connect ONE RCA cable between the Yamaha and the subwoofer using the LFE input on the subwoofer. You would ignore every other connection on the subwoofer as extraneous. It sounds weird to leave them all disconnected, but I'm sure there is a lot on the back of your Yamaha which isn't connected as well. It's okay.

Once everything is is in place, run through the auto-setup of the Yamaha and let it do its thing. Then if you want a bit more volume in surround sound scenes in a movie, you can go into the speaker settings and turn up the volume of the surround speakers a bit more.

Make sure any surround speakers are connected to the 'surround left/right' outputs of your AV receiver and not something else.

 

[Jp3]

WOW thanks all I knew all of this but never spent the money on a SUB because of my Front speakers! They are VS-15 Cerwin Vegas! I have a Cerwin Vega Center and Cerwin Vega Rears for the sourrond. I have Zones set up to and I have been in the Settings adjusting the speakers. This Forum is so helpful. we just recently refreshed our living room so I also just used the Yamaha Mic to try it out and never used it before. I did go in and raise the volume for the rears. What got me on this was I put in a TOP GUN Blue-Ray 3D and the sound didnt impress me so I started looking at my settings again then I decided to look things up on you tube, and I decieded to post here! Now it seems I have to figure out what brand to buy do i look on Market Place do I buy a Cerwin Vega SUB or do I look for a different Brand, what do you all think? My room is 18X15 not sure what size Sub to get either? Thanks for all the Replys very respectiful!

 

[everettT]

WOW thanks all I knew all of this but never spent the money on a SUB because of my Front speakers! They are VS-15 Cerwin Vegas! I have a Cerwin Vega Center and Cerwin Vega Rears for the sourrond. I have Zones set up to and I have been in the Settings adjusting the speakers. This Forum is so helpful. we just recently refreshed our living room so I also just used the Yamaha Mic to try it out and never used it before. I did go in and raise the volume for the rears. What got me on this was I put in a TOP GUN Blue-Ray 3D and the sound didnt impress me so I started looking at my settings again then I decided to look things up on you tube, and I decieded to post here! Now it seems I have to figure out what brand to buy do i look on Market Place do I buy a Cerwin Vega SUB or do I look for a different Brand, what do you all think? My room is 18X15 not sure what size Sub to get either? Thanks for all the Replys very respectiful!

Budget?

 

[Jp3]

Maybe 400

 

[Jp3]

DIY maybe I am not sure how much that would be, but i am crafty

 

[everettT]

Maybe 400

While they are on sale, this a great budget subwoofer and you can get 2, which is ideal for more even sound across multiple seats.
JBL 550

Not on sale, the RSL 10 is probably

RSL Speedwoofer 10S - RSL Speakers

rslspeakers.com

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

DIY can be very effective. Assuming you spec it properly, the main things you’d be missing are fit and finish, and maybe built in dsp. There are options for dsp and EQ available as well, but will add to the cost.
I had/have a pair of old CV d-9’s.(retired and need new foam) They get loud af, but they don’t go as deep as a “real” subwoofer. When I bout them umpteen years ago HT subwoofers weren’t common, and at the time it didn’t really matter. As mentioned, subwoofers provide an anchor to the whole sound. I enjothe new top gun a lot in Atmos, and while there are other films that are more bass heavy, TG absolutely needs to be viewed with subs in the system.

 

[Eppie]

Maybe 400

If you could bump that up to $450 Shady did a round up recently of subwoofers in the $500 range.
The Best $500 Powered Subwoofers for 2023

I am having difficulty finding specs on the VS-15. If it's like the VS-150 it is rated down to about 30Hz. A subwoofer will typically go deeper than that. I would also lean towards the RSL in that price range but if you want to get cleanly down to 20Hz or below you would need to increase the budget or look at DIY. A retail subwoofer will have the amplifier built in but DIY usually consists of picking a driver, designing a cabinet around that, and then adding external amplification, so you need to factor all that into the cost.